Lightning possibly to blame for fire at oil storage facility in Cy-Fair

Officials believe Saturday's storm caused a two-alarm fire at an oil storage facility. They say lightning caused several tankers of crude oil to explode in Cy-Fair.

The fire broke out in the 18600 block of FM 529 just west of Barker Cypress.

Officials say the fire is no longer a major threat, but firefighters remained on the scene putting out hot spots and making sure the fire is contained within that storage facility.

Firefighters say they were extremely lucky because the fire started only about a block away from the fire department's station #8 and they were able to react quickly.

According to the fire marshal's office, witnesses heard several explosions and some of them even saw lightning striking the storage facility just before 3pm.

As soon as firefighters got there, they found several tanks of crude oil burning. They say another tank exploded while firefighters were responding. No injuries were reported.

The fire marshal's office says several agencies are monitoring air quality, but they are saying that is not an issue.

As severe weather remains a threat, and oil still burning in some of those tanks, it is still dangerous, especially with a church next door to the storage facility.

"We've still got lightning out here. We've got firefighters out here fighting this fire in this weather. It's a dangerous situation not just with the oil burning but also with the weather blowing through," said Lt. Dean Hensley with the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office.

Firefighters expected to remain on scene throughout the evening. ___________________________________________________________